Photographs
by independentwriter-137
Summary: Fang finds an old photo album filled with memories he tried so hard to forget but inexplicably he opens it, bringing back memories of a certain girl from his past. AH/AU. Fax. Two-shot.
1. Fang

**A/N. So I was listening to Back to December by Taylor Swift and I thought about my life recently. This is basically it; the dialogue is mostly the same as it happened in real life but I decided to use Max and Fang. The ending of course isn't the same, just the beginning and middle. Hope you enjoy!**

It was raining outside.

Fang was looking for an extra coat he could use later when he needed to go out. He went deeper into his closet and felt around. His hand landed on a rough leather bound surface and he pulled out and old photo album that was long ago forgotten.

He held it in his hands gingerly, coat forgotten, as he sat down on the couch. He hadn't looked in it for so long…

The old album lay on his lap, begging to be opened. It was as if it wanted him to remember those painful memories he tried so hard to forget. Then inexplicably, he opened it.

The first picture was one of a teenage girl smirking at the camera. Her eyes were shining and her dirty blonde hair whipped around her face. She seemed to be mocking the one with the camera, saying she knew something he didn't. She probably did. After all, Fang didn't know a lot about her at first.

The memory came back in high definition, no matter how much he tried to block it out, it was persistent to come through.

_She was sitting under a tree during lunch time all alone with her nose buried in the book. She was always alone. Her name was Maximum Ride, he knew, he'd known her since he was in kindergarten but never really talked to her. He knew she was an overachiever, you know the top of her class, played an instrument, runs track, class president, but he knew she was a loner too. For some reason, she wasn't fond of people but then again neither was he._

_He doesn't know what made him do it, and he probably never will, but he walked up to her and sat next to her. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, probably waiting for him to leave. She turned back to her book; the title was in some foreign language he couldn't read._

_She sighed audibly before turning to him. "Is there something you want?" she asked him._

_Fang shrugged._

"_Not much of talker, are you?" she noticed._

_Fang shook his head but stayed there. "The name's Fang," he finally said._

_She half-smiled at him and extended her hand._

"_Max."_

Fang shook his head. That day changed his life. He was a troubled kid back then. His older brother was 'coming out of the closet', his parents were doctors and hardly ever home, he didn't get particularly good grades at the time because he felt he was stupid. Max changed that, she changed _him._

"_What are you doing here?" she asked him, furious._

"_Skipping," he told her._

_He noted that she didn't turn back and leave him. Was she skipping with him too? No, she was Maximum Ride._

"_Why?" she asked him out of curiosity this time._

"_Because there's no point. I'm gonna end up a bum anyway, I'm stupid and all that stuff," he explained._

_Max stopped and looked at him before shaking her head._

"_Look at me," she ordered him. "You are not stupid, okay? Don't ever say that, it's not true. I don't think it's true." She told him sternly._

_He searched her eyes for any sign of lying but found none. She meant it; she believed it and now so did he._

It was raining even harder now but Fang was too absorbed in the album to care.

Picture after picture showed the two of them together happy and laughing. The pictures showed them together. He remembered how good they were together. He remembered how strongly he felt about her. He remembered how she changed him, now he's got a scholarship to study Medicine in NYU in the fall. And he also remembered the night she left him.

"_Hey, Fang!" she smiled brightly at him._

"_Hey!" he greeted back nervously._

_He had told her to meet up with him today after school. He needed to tell her something._

"_So what's up?"_

"_Well, you see, Max. Lately I've been thinking about something. I have this friend but I think she may be something more," he told her quietly, gauging her reaction._

_She had a careful look on her face, as if afraid of where this was leading._

"_Who is it?" she asked._

"_What would you do if I said it was you?" he asked her back._

_She bit her lip, the way she always does when she's nervous._

"_Depends on who it is," she told him._

"_It's you," he said._

_Max froze. She didn't answer or anything._

"_Max?" he said after a few moments. He had his heart open and on display for her. She'd always been there for him, surely she wouldn't—_

"_I need to go," she said and took off running._

_He watched as she ran away. Away from the school, away from what he said, away from _him_. He didn't think he'd ever felt this hurt before. He turned around, wondering if he'd ever see her again, wondering if he even wanted to._

Max and him never went back to the way it was. He would see him around but they wouldn't talk like the used to, they argued a lot too. They were always hostile, mostly because he was mad at her and now her pride was getting the better of her.

That was a year ago. He moved on. He didn't need her. At least he didn't want to.

Fang threw down the album. He hated it, hated her. She was the best thing in his life and yet she just walked away. He gave her everything and all she gave him was goodbye.

As if fate had intervened, there was a furious knocking on the door.

He turned to it, barely in control of himself. He opened the door cautiously and saw…Max?

She was soaking wet, her eyes were red from crying and she looked up at him guiltily but it was still Max. Same warm brown eyes, same dirty blonde hair, same beautiful face. It was his Max.

"Max?" he looked at her.

"Fang, I'm so sorry. I'm so late but I'm sorry. I want to take it back. This is me swallowing my pride saying I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I was wrong. I was scared of how much I liked you. It was a mistake, I can't begin to tell you. I've been thinking lately and I understand if you don't want to take me back but I just wanted to give it a shot. See if you still like me and I—"

"Max," he said quietly.

"Yeah?" she looked up at him.

"Shut up," he said and did the thing he wanted to do for the past year.

He kissed her. Right there in the pouring rain he kissed her.

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

"I know," he smiled.

**A/N. So not my best work, might be deleted if I get no reviews or people say it sucks or something. Pretty close to real life but awesomer since it's Max and Fang. REVIEW!**

**-Indy**


	2. Max

**A/N. I'm so glad you guys liked the first chapter so I decided to make it a two-shot! Here's Max's point of view going to Fang to apologize.**

Max was on another date.

Dylan Gunther-Hagen droned on and on about his troubles at his job but Max didn't really care. This was what? Her fifth date in a year? None of them got past the first.

Max's mind wandered back to the reason she couldn't enjoy any of her outings. Fang. Ever since what happened last year, life hasn't been the same. She though leaving him would be good and that running away from the feelings that scared her would be like freedom. It wasn't, she could hardly breathe.

She thought back to the little things he would do for her that made her fall for him.

_Her teachers thought it would be good to give the students extra homework because of the upcoming vacation so here was Max lugging her back pack around like it weighed a ton which she swore it did._

_"Need help with that?" someone asked behind her._

_She turned to look at Fang Wright, the boy who sat next to her the day before._

_"No," she said and lifted the bag over her shoulder to emphasize the fact._

_Fang raised an eyebrow but didn't say otherwise._

_Max walked home, her bag threatening to rip off her arm from her shoulder when suddenly the weight was gone._

_Confused, she turned around to look at Fang who now slung her bag over his shoulder with ease._

_"Lead the way, Ride," he told her._

_"Fine," she said stubbornly. She walked ahead of him as if she was mad at his insistent chivalry but the real reason why she walked ahead was so he wouldn't see the stupid smile she had on her face._

"Max? Hello? Are you listening?" Dylan asked her.

"What? Yeah, your boss is an ass right?" she smiled like she was interested.

"Yeah, exactly, anyway," he continued but Max's attention was gone again.

She wanted to focus on the date but just couldn't. This was wrong. It's been a year since she turned him down, a year since she's been happy, felt safe. She would take it all back if she could. Maybe it wasn't too late, maybe she could—

Max stood up abruptly.

"Is something wrong?" Dylan asked her, confusion drawing his perfect eyebrows together.

"Nothing, but Dylan I've got to go, okay? I'm sorry," she said and hurried out of the fancy restaurant.

It was raining outside and she hailed a taxi to take her to Fang's house.

This was stupid. This was stupid.

She couldn't just knock on his door and ask him to take her back. He would hate her. After all it was her fault their friendship was ruined.

She was scared. She wasn't used to emotions and feelings. When she was eleven her dad left her mom for another woman. As if that wasn't enough, her mother and sister broke down and looked to her like _she_ had the strength which she didn't. She didn't believe in love. She didn't want to believe there was anything in life remotely close to happiness for her. She hid her emotions and ran away from love and people. It was second nature to her now, so when Fang told her he liked her she ran away. The one thing she didn't want to do she did, she ran away and broke his heart.

Her mind flashbacked to the month after the incident.

_She glanced at Fang who sat across the room with Iggy, his best friend._

_He wouldn't talk to her. He avoided her like the plague. Who could blame him? She broke his heart._

_She wondered if it was killing him like it was killing her. Maybe she should walk up to him and tell him that she was scared and she takes it back._

_She stood up to go to his table then stopped. She did a double take on him, sure he was sad now but he'd get over it. He didn't need the extra drama that was Max. He was doing well in school now, becoming more popular, he didn't have to settle for her. She realized that maybe he was better on his own, so for the second time, she walked away._

So why was she going back now? She knew the answer: she was being selfish. She broke his heart and now she wanted him back. It was a mistake but if he slammed the door in her face she wouldn't blame him.

The cab stopped in front of the house she knew so well. She climbed out of the car and into the pouring rain.

She wondered if he was home, if he would talk to her, take her back. It has been a year after all. Maybe she waited too long, maybe it was too late, maybe she was just going to hurt him again by seeing him.

There were too many maybes for her liking.

A salty taste found its way to her mouth. It was a tear, she was crying. She wiped the tears away and straightened her shoulders. She needed to swallow her pride and apologize and maybe, just maybe he'd take her back.

Her knuckles rapped on the door. She heard a shuffle of footsteps before the door opened.

Brown eyes met black ones.

It was Fang, just as he was a year ago, maybe a little taller but still him. His eyes flashed from confusion to shock to concern to sadness. She didn't know what to think or do. She just said now whatever came to mind, no filter between the mind and heart. It was time for the wall between emotions and logic to come down.

"Max?" he said, his expression was one she didn't know.

"Fang, I'm so sorry. I'm so late but I'm sorry. I want to take it back. This is me swallowing my pride saying I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I was wrong. I was scared of how much I liked you. It was a mistake, I can't begin to tell you. I've been thinking lately and I understand if you don't want to take me back but I just wanted to give it a shot. See if you still like me and I—" the words came spilling out. Her mind had them perfectly set to the exact explanation but she just couldn't bring herself to make excuses for her actions.

"Max," he said quietly.

"Yeah?" she looked up at him, almost fearful of what he would say next. Would he reject her? Would he—

"Shut up," he said before placing his lips on hers.

She was soaked and crying and just came from a date with the wrong person and yet she was…happy.

"I'm sorry," she repeated one more time, just in case the first times weren't clear.

"I know," he smiled.

**A/N. Thanks for reading and please review!**

**-Indy**


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